Tom Hanks And His OMEGA Speedmaster Professional

Posted by Robert-Jan Broer on Apr 05, 2012

Today, I received a mail by a long time watch friend that included a picture of Tom Hanks wearing an OMEGA Speedmaster Professional. This photo was featured in an article (this one) in The Washington Times about Tom Hanks and his political preferences. I am pretty sure you saw or know the Apollo 13 movie, where he plays the role of NASA astronaut Jim Lovell.

In the Apollo 13 movie, he is wearing [more or less] the same Moonwatch as the NASA astronauts did. It is nice to see that Tom Hanks also likes to wear a Speedy Moonwatch in his own time, where he probably can just pick out any watch he wants to have.

Actor, director and producer Tom Hanks is not on the list of official OMEGA ambassadors but surely is one. Besides sporting an OMEGA in Apollo 13, we’ve seen him wearing a Memomatic in The Terminal movie and a Planet Ocean 45mm in TV appearances as well. However, in the movie Angels & Demons he wore a Mickey Mouse watch, just like described in the 2000 novel by Dan Brown. Jake’s Rolex World website also features some images of Tom Hanks wearing a 36mm Rolex Explorer though.

The picture above is a capture from Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks in an astronaut suit, playing the role of Jim Lovell. You can see the Apollo 13 badge on his left chest, also featured on one of the limited edition OMEGA Speedmaster Professional ‘patch’ models.

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“You can see the Apollo 13 badge on his left chest, also featured on one of the limited edition OMEGA Speedmaster Professional ‘patch’ models.”And as well in the limited edition made in 1995 (999 pieces) to celebrate the 25th Aniversary of Apollo XIII, year when the movie was released. Am sure Tom Hanks got one of these as well

http://www.fratellowatches.com Robert-Jan

Hi Balthasar,

I am pretty sure he has one of those as well. Another Apollo XIII special is of course the Snoopy edition. Highly sought-after, given the fact that WHEN you see it for sale, it has become unaffordable.

RJ

http://pretenseofknowledge.com/ speedmaster

Great find! Apollo 13 is one of my favs. Lost track of how many times I’ve seen it.

http://www.pellikaantiming.com/ Hubert Pellikaan

It is wonderfull that a really great actor (i dont recall him wearing a watch in Cast Away ) loves to wear a really great watch. I would hope that Scarlett Johansson would want to wear one of my watches……

I was fortunate enough to meet Jim Lovell on a few occasions in the UK and the USA. He was, on each occasion wearing a Rolex GMT Master with Pepsi bezel at a guess I’d say late 60’s or early 70’s vintage. I am a Speedy nut and own several of these iconic watches, both 321 and 861, straight and twisted lug. I guess everyone knows now that many astronauts on the Apollo missions owned GMT’s as personal watches (Cernan, Lovell, Mitchell, Swigert to name a few) Edgar Mitchell wore his (under his suit) on the moon surface on the Apollo 14 EVA’s and of course Ron Evans GMT was taken to the moon surface by Cernan and Schmitt in Antares on 17. It wasn’t used on the EVA’s but Evans (the CMP) engraved the back of it and it was relatively recently sold at auction for a huge amount of money.

StevenCrawfordPidcock

PS It seems the Speedmaster was the issued watch but the most popular private purchase appears to have been the 1675 GMT Master. There has even been some debate as to whether Jack Swigert used his GMT or his Speedmaster to time the critical engine burns. Even the die hard Rolex fans had to concede that it was far more logical to employ a chronograph for timings when there is one to hand ! Jack Swigert was given an 18K GMT Master on his return and his Pepsi bezel 1675 is now resident in the Rolex Museum in Switzerland.

StevenCrawfordPidcock

Dave Scott, the 15 Commander also wore a Waltham chronograph on the moon surface as he reported that the crystal had popped off his Omega on the first EVA. I asked him about this about 3 years back and he confirmed it was true. So much for the Speedmaster being the first (correct) and only (nope!) watch worn on the moon ! It was the first but we know a Waltham was used by Dave Scott and also that Ed Mitchell wore his GMT under his suit. Still, the Speedmaster will never be surpassed – It remains a model of clarity and readability with a beautiful case and proportions. As a piece of graphic design it is awesome, a tool watch perhaps but no less attractive and classy for that – A watch that can be worn on any occasion (except water sports!) and that is steeped in the history of “The Right Stuff”.

I fully agree with you Tom Hanks is a superb actor. He is definitely an unofficial Omega ambassador. In “Cast Away” he wore two watches: a black Casio rubber digital watch and the pocket watch given to him by his portrayed character’s girlfriend as a X-mas present, just before his ill fated flight. I own my Omega Speedy and wear it with the same pride I wear my Rolex GMT. By the way, I also share your wishful thinking, hoping that Ms. Johansson would like to wear one of my watches.